


Snow, Rose, Light

by robindrake93



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson - Freeform, Consensual Underage Sex, Fluff, Growing Old, Light Angst, M/M, Magical Place, Runaway Luke Castellan, but not together - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:07:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23963599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robindrake93/pseuds/robindrake93
Summary: Annabeth tells Percy that Luke wants out of Kronos' army and they hatch a plan to help him runaway. However, the place that they take him is magic and it won't let Luke leave.
Relationships: Luke Castellan/Percy Jackson
Comments: 19
Kudos: 135





	Snow, Rose, Light

**Author's Note:**

> My fics are not for reupload. Do not steal my fics and reupload them anywhere. You do not have permission. I do not want any of my fics uploaded to other websites or reuploaded to AO3. 
> 
> Now that that's out of the way, this was completely inspired by the [Light-Up White Rose Tree at Cracker Barrel](https://shop.crackerbarrel.com/home-furniture/home-decor/accents/light-up-white-rose-tree/707494) (which I totally bought for myself and it is awesome). 
> 
> I bet you guys weren't expecting another lukercy fic from me so soon after I finished Book One of the Revenge Verse, huh? This is just a little one shot and is not the fic that I will be submitting for your pleasure on Monday. 
> 
> If you don't like the font color, click "Hide Creator's Style" at the top and it'll revert to black.

We were so far North that snow fell on the deck of the Princess Andromeda and every exhale was a cloud. The pool had long since frozen over, and was currently being used as an ice skating rink even though you could see the bodies of dead mortals beneath the surface. Such things didn’t matter to monsters. 

I stood atop the highest deck, closest to the stars and the snow, a cigarette hanging between my lips. The cherry on the end glowed red but offered little warmth. Since my latest failure and the announcement that I would become Kronos’ host, I no longer felt warmth. Or anything else, really. 

Part of me believed that Kronos had sent us on this mission to the arctic as a way to get rid of my little piece of his army. Compared to the Titans he was waking up, my small army of demigods and monsters seemed particularly inefficient and disposable. Exactly like me. 

When he came, it was without sound but he brought the scent of warmer oceans on his skin. The tip of his sword pressed into my spine. His breath clouded around me. He was close, so close to me but all I felt was numbness like lead in my veins. “Turn around.” His voice was deeper than I remembered but he was soft spoken so as to not alert my crew. 

It didn’t surprise me that he had found me yet again. I flicked my cigarette onto a lower deck. The cherry red tip was snuffed by the snowdrift it landed in. I faced him. “You look good, Percy,” I said, voice low. 

Battle had hardened Percy, burned away all of the round softness that youth held and left only chiseled muscle and hard lines in its wake. His black hair was fine and feathery, and had grown down to his jawline. Three clay beads sat in the hollow of his throat, held there by a leather chord. Even his eyes had changed, though they were the same color they had always been, a pale yet vibrant green like sea glass. Their brightness was accentuated by the shadows around his eyes, indicating trouble sleeping yet it looked as lovely as eyeshadow. The obnoxious orange Camp Half-Blood shirt was gone, replaced by a billowy white pirate shirt, strings unlaced at the front to show off his chest despite the temperature. The jeans had been replaced by breeches or leggings, dark and shapely on his legs and boots that laced up to his knees. 

Percy’s swordpoint pressed into my stomach, a wordless threat should I exhibit any unwanted behavior. His intense gaze met mine, eyes looking into mine like he was searching my soul. The intensity softened somewhat as he lowered his gaze to the rest of me, then back up to my eyes. Now his eyes sparkled with mischief as though he were only playing a game with me. “The suit is a good look for you, Luke,” Percy said finally, the same mischief in his tone. 

“So what’s your plan this time?” I raised my hand to indicate the ship. “As you can see, the latest world domination plan isn’t unfolding very quickly.” We were so far North that we were stuck in the water, our little cruise ship no match for the frozen Titans of the northern oceans. 

“I’m here to kidnap someone,” Percy confided. He dragged the tip of his sword up between my ribs and centered it on my chest. “So we have to be quiet.” 

“Only you?” I suspected that the glowing of his celestial bronze sword would give us away long before our voices did. It was night and the lights were off on this level of the outer deck. 

“You should know better than to underestimate my powers of persuasion.” 

His powers of persuasion were terrible. If they had been better then we wouldn’t be in this situation because Percy would have charmed me back to the side of the Olympians. There was no need to point that out, however, so I remained silent. 

Percy’s sleeve shifted and I saw something wrapped around his wrist. It looked a lot like the necklace that graced his neck but there were more beads on it. Of course I recognized it. How could I not recognize something that I’d worn for a very long seven years? He noticed me noticing my Camp Half-Blood necklace tied securely to his wrist. Percy jerked his head, indicating that I should follow him. Then he lowered his sword and walked into the darkness. 

Following him was not a conscious decision that I made with my mind. It was something that my heart wanted to do and so my body followed the impulse. Where would Percy lead me? There was nothing out here, just miles of glacier frozen over the ocean. It was all I could see, an endless white on the black velvet of the sky and the choppy darkness of the ocean that peered through the cracks in the ice. 

We went down steel ladders so cold they made my hands raw and aching. The ice by the hull of the Princess Andromeda crunched when we landed on it but it held our miniscule weight. 

Percy turned to me, face lit by his sword. “I’m kidnapping you, Luke.”

“I understand,” I replied. My heart howled with the wind that swept up snow around us. 

“If you fall behind or try to go back to the ship, you’ll be lost to the ice.” It was a warning and a promise rolled into one that flowed so smoothly off Percy’s tongue. As though corroborating Percy’s statement, the ice beneath us groaned. 

I met his eyes and nodded. 

We ran through the snow. I followed the bronze glow of his sword. I don’t know what Percy followed. The terrain was uneven and unforgiving. No matter what direction I looked, everything seemed to be the same. Even the Princess Andromeda blinked out of view once we were away from her side. Percy hadn’t been lying. If I didn’t follow him closely, or if I changed my mind, I would be lost in this frozen wasteland. 

We ran across the tundra for what felt like days without stopping yet the sky never lightened and the snow never stopped swirling down around us. I had the thought that we were running but going nowhere, two stationary figures trapped in a snowglobe, doomed to run forever. 

Eventually the cliffs rose up around us like wraiths coming out of the storm. One moment there was nothing and the next we were surrounded by high ice walls. The loud, ever present howl of the wind cut off suddenly as though it had split off from us. I could still hear it, muted and far away, overhead of us. I expected the icy canyon to be a labyrinth but there was only one path and the only way to stray from it would be to turn around the way we’d come. 

This did not feel like running forever and I could see that the cliff face changed as we ran. It didn’t feel warmer but our breaths no longer visibly puffed from our chilled lips. A warm golden glow ahead caught my eye. It lit up the ice and snow, making the shadows look bluer and chasing away the stark whiteness. We came out in a basin sheltered from the howling winds and the worst of the biting cold. A stream ran along one side, twisted throughout the basin to create islands that held clusters of trees. 

The trees were magnificent things, so beautiful that I couldn’t help but stop and stare at them. They had thin white trunks and spindly branches that were leafless. Rather, growing from every branch, was a white rose, each the size of a watermelon and they glowed with a beautiful golden light. There were dozens of trees, not one exactly the same size or height as the others and some rather small still. But standing majestically in the center of the basin was the tallest, biggest tree with a trunk so thick around that you couldn’t touch your fingers together if you wrapped your arms around it. This tree gave off the brightest light, and had the biggest roses on its branches. 

This place was holy, sacred, and very, very dangerous. 

Percy had slowed to a stop and now he stood looking at me, his backs to the gorgeous rose trees. I couldn’t make out his expression. 

“You took me to the place Kronos is looking for,” I told him and suddenly wished I hadn’t followed him. Kronos didn’t keep such a close eye on me as he had in the beginning but I didn’t want him to know the location of this magical place nor about the boy who’d led me here. “There’s supposed to be a guardian here, to stop intruders from -“ I fell silent.

Percy had closed the distance between us and placed a finger to my lips. His skin was warm against mine. “You’ll be safe here,” Percy said. He moved his hand to cup my cheek and stroked his thumb down the scar that marred it. 

I expected pain but it didn’t come. The scar had reopened weeks ago and was a festering, inflamed wound that made everything agonizing. “If you found it, it can’t be that big of a secret,” I whispered as I put my hand over his. A human hand touching my skin, one so familiar and yet so different, felt incredible and deeply intimate. 

“It’s the biggest secret in the universe. Even if they know about it, finding it is almost impossible.” Percy was trying to ease my fear but it was fear for him that I felt and as long as he was here, that couldn’t be appeased. I was already fated to die but Percy could have his whole life ahead of him. Between the possibility of Kronos finding us and the guardian - whatever type of beast it was - discovering us trespassing, I didn’t have high hopes of getting Percy out of here alive. “I’ve been here for a few days. You have nothing to worry about, Luke.” His voice was soothing, not a trace of worry in it. Percy took my hand and led me further into the basin, towards the massive tree at the center. 

How could I do anything except follow him? 

We crossed the silvery stream and came onto the island of the glorious tree. There was a pack there, old and made of leather, as well as a white fur spread over the snow. We sat on the fur and I ran my hand over it. It was soft and supple. 

Percy opened the pack and took out a cup carved from white wood. He handed it to me. “Get a drink from the stream,” he said. 

I walked to the stream and dipped the wooden cup in. The water looked silvery even when it was in the cup. As I admired the beautiful reflection of the lights on the water's surface, thirst overcame me suddenly. I’d run a long way. A drink was a good idea. I put the cup to my lips and drank the entire thing. Then I returned to Percy and handed him the empty cup. It wasn’t to be cruel; I just didn’t think he was thirsty. 

Sure enough, Percy put the cup back into the pack. He smiled at me, soft and tender, in a way that filled me with warmth. “Luke,” he whispered, reaching for me. 

I knelt within his reach and as I did, my heartbeat quickened. 

Percy pulled me to him by my shoulders, laying on his back at the same time. The white of the fur made his black hair stand out more. 

I was on my hands and knees, slotted between his open legs. Looking down at him, I thought that at fifteen, Percy had grown to become beautiful. If I told him, would he laugh? Would it break this shining moment between us? 

“You’re so handsome,” Percy said wistfully. There was longing in his voice, in the open and pleading way he looked up at me. 

I kissed him. 

Percy hooked his legs around my waist. His hands went to my short hair and threaded through it. 

We undressed each other, hands getting in the way as much as helping. It was so easy to remove the billowing white shirt from his torso, to slide the leggings down to his boots. 

Percy sat up and laughed and unlaced his boots. He tipped his face up to kiss me again. 

It was distracting, made my hands falter as I pulled the leggings off the rest of the way. There was nothing beneath his leggings except smooth tanned skin, beautiful and shapely legs. 

Percy’s fingers were fairly deft with removing my suit, though I was sure he’d never done anything like this before. He was only fifteen. 

As he untied my tie, I caught his hands and kissed the knuckles. 

Percy allowed it until I began to kiss the second round of knuckles and then he pulled his hands away to unbutton my shirt and shove it off my shoulders. His pupils dilated as he ran his hands along my shoulders and arms, palms gliding along my muscles. He took a steadying breath as though he couldn’t believe he were here, doing this. 

I wanted to ask if he was okay, if he was sure. I didn’t want to scare him out of whatever we were getting into. As Percy unbuttoned and slid off my slacks, I moved to make it easier for him. 

Then we were naked, sitting back to look at each other. 

Percy smiled and leaned back onto his elbows. He spread his legs, a clear invitation if I’ve ever seen one. “I want to ride you,” he said as though the visual invitation wasn’t enough. 

“Okay,” I agreed. As I settled between his thighs, I wondered how on earth he expected me to enter him when we didn’t have lube. 

The answer to that was quickly solved. Percy was wet between his cheeks, a clear fluid leaking out of his hole. “Son of Poseidon,” Percy said gently when he saw my confusion. “We’re made to be -“

And he didn’t get to say what children of Poseidon were made to do because I pushed into the wanting, wet heat between his legs. 

Percy’s back arched off the fur. His arms shot around my neck, seeking something to hold onto. He took me like a dream, body tight as a vice but so good, throbbing in time to his racing heart beat. Once he’d caught his breath, Percy looked up at me through eyes half-lidded. 

I dropped down onto my elbows so that I could wrap my arms around him. He was shorter and skinnier than me, despite the hard lines of his muscles, and he needed to eat more. “Sorry,” I said because in hindsight I should have taken it slow. “It’s like ripping off a bandaid.”

Percy snorted next to my ear. “It is _nothing_ like ripping off a bandaid, you heathen,” he said. There was no pain in his voice and he’d relaxed now that I was buried in his body up to my balls. 

It felt like he was made for me; wasn’t too tight or too loose and he was slick with self-lubrication. That was nice enough on its own, but Percy was beautiful to look at and his skin felt good against mine and his black hair was soft. Even the way he smelled was appealing, a salty oceanic scent. “I’m not a heathen,” I whispered. I had just found a new religion. 

Percy gave me a look I’d never seen on him before our trip here but was seeing a lot recently; a small smile on his lips, eyes tender, expression pleased, as though being with me was exactly where he wanted to be. Then he wiggled his butt and said, “Well are you going to just look at me or are you going to move?” 

I moved, of course, but I didn’t stop looking at him either. 

Sex and sword fighting are very different from each other but I couldn’t help noticing the parallels. Percy followed my lead until he could match me thrust for thrust and maybe it helped that we had spared, so many times before this. As enemies we were familiar with each other’s voices and expressions, with reading between the lines of the body and what wasn’t spoken. Knowing someone personally before having sex with them made for deeply intimate sex. 

I sat back on my haunches and pulled Percy into my lap. I wanted to hold him closer. We were chest to chest, foreheads pressed together. I could taste the warmth of his breath. 

Percy lopped his arms around my neck for leverage as he rode me. His cock leaked between us, clear precum coating my belly. He rode me like a dream, adapting to the change in position quickly. 

When he came, Percy moaned prettily. 

I greedily swallowed the sound, lips pressed to his, stealing his breath. When I came inside of him, our lips were still locked. 

Percy kissed me a few times, chaste little things. He was slow to lift himself off my dick and slower still to pull away from me completely. His chest still pressed to mine, arms wrapped loosely around my neck. 

I held him, arms wrapped around his waist, hands smoothing up and down along the curve of Percy’s spine. As I gazed into his sea glass green eyes, I knew that I loved him. Not true romantic love, but the kind that came with endless gratitude when your life was saved. 

Percy had said that I would be safe here and Percy didn’t tell lies. 

When we were done, breaths caught, Percy began to pull his clothes back on. 

I elected to lay there naked, as I felt good for the first time in months and the cold didn’t seem to touch me. I watched him dress, admiring the toned body that I’d made love to. “You’re beautiful,” I told him. 

Percy laughed, delighted. His features lit up with happiness. 

When was the last time I’d seen him so happy? So at ease? Never, I was fairly sure. I wanted to make him happy, which was strange because not too long ago, I had wanted to kill him. How could I have been so blind? Even after everything I put him and Annabeth through, Percy had still come to save me. He was a light in a dark world and I’d tried to snuff him out just because of our parents' indifference and cruelty to us. 

When he was fully dressed once more, Percy stretched out on top of me. Percy stroked his hand through my hair and ducked his head to kiss me sweetly. “You have to stay here, Luke,” he whispered against my lips. “This place has magic so old and strong that no one will find you here, whether they’re mortal or immortal.”

It was beautiful and peaceful, here among the glowing rose trees and the cool snow. Going into the world scared me because so many people were angry with me and because they would kill me before I could so much as ask for forgiveness. Even so, I couldn’t imagine staying here forever with no one for company. Being alone, without any other living thing, was terrifying. “I don’t want to be alone. Can’t you stay?”

Percy looked sad for a moment but it quickly changed to a warm smile. He kissed me again, so full of tenderness that it made my chest ache. “I’ll be back soon enough. You won’t even know I’m gone.”

An instinct told me that I didn’t have a choice. Percy may be able to come and go as he pleased but I felt...tied. The rest of the world seemed very far away and insubstantial, as though it weren’t real. That felt wrong. I sat up, suddenly, my heart pounding hard. “You didn’t drink the water,” I accused desperately.

Percy sat up too. He kneeled before me and wiped tears from his eyes. “No. I didn’t. There can only be one guardian and it had to be you. You’ll be killed if you leave.” 

I didn’t understand. He was still hiding something from me. But if he was leaving, I didn’t want him to go on a sour note. If he did, Percy might not come back. I knelt and kissed him. “Do you have to leave so soon?” 

Percy traced the line of my jaw. He studied my face as though he were memorizing it. “I love you, Luke. And I’ll be back before you know it.” Then he stood up and uncapped the pen that elongated into a sword. The bronze glow from the sword was very dim compared to the light from the roses.

What if he never comes back? “Percy,” I said urgently, “I love you too.” 

Percy looked surprised and then he smiled. He didn’t leave me with more parting words, just the image of his back as he ran through the snow and left me alone in this strange but lovely place. 

As Percy got farther away, my limbs grew heavy. I eased myself down onto the white fur we’d shared. It still smelled like him, and the spot he’d been in was still warm with his body heat. My eyelids were so heavy that I had trouble opening them. I tried to watch Percy leave, but between one blink and the next, Percy was out of my sight and then I was asleep. 

I woke feeling well rested and full of energy and anticipation. Someone was coming, though I couldn’t yet see who. A friend, I thought. Not a person who meant any harm. Now that they were here, of course, I couldn’t go back to sleep. While I waited for them to enter the basin, I stretched out my limbs until they were loose. 

Soon there was movement to catch my eye. I stood up and this time I watched him as he approached me. Percy looked much the same as he had when he left but he was subtly different in ways I couldn’t quite pinpoint. It was likely his eyes, as Percy looked far more tired now than he had before my nap. 

“You should have stayed and slept with me,” I told him mostly as a joke but also partly serious. 

Percy threw his arms around my neck without hesitation. “So much has happened,” he said and then sobbed. 

I froze, going rigid against his warmth. “What happened? Annabeth?” She couldn’t be gone. Not yet. She was still so young, she still had so much more life to live. And I wasn’t stupid, she would have been the one to convince Percy to hide me away somewhere Kronos couldn’t find me. 

Percy shook his head. He stepped back and wiped his eyes. “The battle was bad,” Percy confided. The look in his eyes showed the hollowness within him, showed someone who had seen war and lived through it and wished they hadn’t. 

I pulled him to me and hugged him tight. Percy and all of the other demigods were fighting my battle for me. They were fighting something I had started. “What happened?” I asked again, cheek pressed to his hair. 

Percy told me in starts and stops, voice breaking sometimes as he described something terrible that had happened to someone we knew. One hand moved, the other held mine and that one squeezed the flesh and bones of my hand like he was trying to break it. 

I let him catch me up on the world outside and squeeze my hand, only interjecting for clarification. Or to ask about someone that he hadn’t yet mentioned. My young lover had taken a dip in the River Styx and he was now invincible. I didn’t ask him where his Achilles' spot was, though I was curious. Though I wasn’t planning on hurting him, I thought that maybe I could find it, if I put my hands and mouth on him enough. 

Walking in the snow, beneath the glowing light of the roses, telling me about his trauma, and safe from the weather and the other bad things outside these walls, I watched as Percy relaxed. By the time he was done, we had trekked four times around the orchard; jumping over streams and leaning on the white trunks of the trees, and crying in the snow. I cried a little bit but mostly I was relieved that both Percy and Annabeth - and Thalia - had made it out of the war alive. 

When we were beneath the largest tree, standing on the fur, Percy looked at me with eyes full of guilt. “Luke, even though Kronos is dead, you still can’t leave.” He swallowed. “When we came up with this plan, we thought that we would be able to come and get you when the danger was over.”

I looked around my beautiful prison that didn’t feel like a prison. Drinking the water one time had bound me here, though I suspected that there was more to it than that. Maybe the sex had bound me here too, maybe falling asleep had bound me here. I wasn’t completely sure because no one knew that there had been different guardians. Whenever this place was mentioned, it was mentioned as having a guardian, just one. No one ever said that what they meant was that there was just one guardian _at a time._ “Will you come to see me again?” I asked him. 

Percy nodded. “Of course,” he agreed easily and quickly. He touched my cheek. “I’m here, aren’t I?” 

It didn’t feel like Percy had been gone for a substantial length of time. Long enough to win a war, apparently, but not longer than that. “You won’t forget about me?” Because I could feel how distant the outside world became when Percy wasn’t talking about it. 

“No, Luke. I won’t forget about you.” Percy held up his wrist, which my Camp Half-Blood beads still encircled.

“Then I’m fine here,” I said. Besides, it wasn’t just Kronos that I had to worry about. The Gods wouldn’t be pleased with me either. The kids could figure out how to get me out and in the meantime, the Gods could cool off. 

Percy barely had to lift himself up on his tiptoes to kiss me. He must have gone through another growth spurt. “Luke, I want to ride you,” Percy said. 

“Okay.” I kissed him again. Then pulled him back to the fur. I leaned against the tree and pulled him into my lap. 

Percy came willingly. He positioned himself and slowly eased onto my cock, letting out a pretty moan as he did. When I was fully sheathed within him, Percy tilted his head to kiss me. “You feel so good,” Percy whispered, voice shy and cheeks pink. 

I chased his lips with mine, caught him in a kiss. I kissed him hard and then bit his bottom lip to draw out a moan. “You feel good too,” I said. My cock gave an impatient twinge, ready to get moving already. I rolled my hips up the best I could from my position. 

Percy got the hint. He lifted up and slid back down. His pace started off slow and gradually picked up speed. The beads around his neck bounced against the hollow of his throat. His cock leaked against my stomach. 

I matched Percy’s rhythm as best I could, rolled my hips up to meet him every other thrust. His body felt so good around me. It felt so good to have his skin brushing mine. I wrapped my arms around his middle, wanting to hold him forever. I found his Achilles’ spot entirely by accident in that I hadn’t been looking for it actively. My fingers brushed over a tiny, drachma-sized spot of skin that wasn’t any different from any other.

Except that Percy jolted and shivered like he’d been struck by lightning. His nails dug into my shoulders. His eyes were wide as he looked at me. 

And something in his expression told me that this was it. Percy’s Achilles’ spot was in the small of his back. Very carefully, I ran my fingers over the spot again. 

Percy whined, low in his throat. He didn’t take his eyes from mine. His rhythm had stuttered, slowed. 

“Does it hurt?” I asked. I’d narrowly avoided this fate. The small of my back wasn’t where I’d leave my weak spot. Percy was either brave or stupid and I couldn’t decide which. 

Percy shook his head. He bit his lip, squeezed his knees around my waist. “Just...sensitive.” 

“Good or bad?” I asked and made a small circle motion with two of my fingers. My touch was still light; I didn’t want to hurt him. 

Percy closed his eyes. He shifted. “Good, I think,” he said after a moment of indecision. 

“I can stop,” I offered, still brushing my fingers against the spot. I leaned forward and kissed him.

When we parted, Percy gazed at me through his eyelashes. “No,” he whispered. “It’s fine.” 

The amount of trust that Percy put in me was wild and dizzying. I kissed him again, trying to convey how grateful I was. 

The time it took me to realize that Percy was aging significantly between sleep cycles and I wasn't, was embarrassingly long. For him, five years had passed and he was a man through and through. But for me, it had only been about five hours since I’d arrived. I hadn’t aged even a single day. 

Percy had beard stubble growing in. It looked like he saved regularly. His outfit was the same as all the other times, except that there was a new bead on his necklace. He was up to eight of them now. My necklace was still worn around his wrist, no new beads added. 

“I’m only awake when you’re here,” I said by way of greeting. It wasn’t as much a greeting for me as it was continuing the conversation. Waking up from my year long sleep never felt like I’d been unconscious for that long. It always felt as though only a moment had passed.

Percy strode up to me without answering, cupped my face, and kissed me hard. “How many times do I have to tell you, my love? You won’t even know I’m gone.” He kissed me again, as though he was starving. 

Of course I was overjoyed to see him again. He was so handsome and strong. He was taller than me by a couple of inches. There were so many changes and yet so much that stayed the same. “I don’t understand.”

“You’re the guardian, Luke,” Percy said as though that explained anything. “You’re bound to this place now. You only wake when someone crosses the boundary of the canyon.” 

I wasn’t sure I liked the implications of that. “Percy, if you stop showing up, I’ll never wake up again.” I probably wouldn’t even know it. 

Percy clasped my hands in both of his. “It doesn’t have to be me. Anyone who finds this place will cause you to wake up.” 

Most people would be angry that they’d been tricked into spending their life in cool isolation, even in such a beautiful place. But I couldn’t really be mad at him. I’d seen the alternatives for demigods and this was a paradise compared to those. No one got hurt (although I could feel that I had powers here I hadn’t had before) and I only woke when someone entered, which meant I would never feel boredom’s bite. 

I brought Percy’s hands up and kissed each of his knuckles. “Tell me what’s happened,” I said, though thoughts and memories of the outside world had become nothing more than vague images. There had been a little girl like a wild cat and an older girl who looked like black lightning...Annabeth. Thalia. How could I forget their names?

Percy and I took a walk through the grove of trees. He told me everything and as he spoke, my memory came back to me in sharp detail. We held hands while he spoke and unbidden, I helped him across the looping stream so that he didn’t touch the water. There had been two more wars after Kronos was defeated but now there was peace. 

When he was through speaking, I brought his hand to my lips and kissed his knuckles. “You did good. You’ve done so much better than I did.” 

Percy brought photos with him. He pulled them from some hidden pocket and handed them to me with his left hand. His fingers were splayed. A ring glinted off one of his fingers, golden and beautiful in its simplicity. “Annabeth and I got married.”

I took the photos and slowly looked through them. They were wedding photos, taken at Camp Half-Blood. I almost didn’t recognize Annabeth. 

Annabeth wore a white dress that was at once beautiful and sexy, the neckline plunging down to her navel and made mostly of lace. She looked older than I remembered, and was an actual woman now. No longer a fifteen-year-old girl like last time I’d seen her. Her blonde hair was longer than it had ever been, I could tell even with it drawn up, decorated with flowers and a silver owl pin. There was still a gray streak in it, which seemed to have spread but Annabeth wore it like a badge of honor. Her gray eyes were pinched around the corners but they glittered with laughter and love for whoever was behind the camera. 

Thalia was there, dressed in a formal silver version of her Hunters uniform, face perpetually stuck at fifteen. She looked happier and more confident than I had ever seen her. 

Grover, with a bow tie around his neck and his arm around a tree nymph I didn’t recognize, dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief. Even as he cried, he was laughing and happy. 

Then there was Percy. His suit was blue-gray like the ocean on a cloudy day and really made his eyes pop. He had a sprig of moonlace in his chest pocket. His cheeks were red with a blush but he was caught in the middle of a fond smile. 

There were more pictures of the ceremony, pictures of people that I’d forgotten the names of but knew by their godly parent. Everyone was dressed up for the occasion.

They all looked so happy. 

When I reached the last photo, I looked up at Percy. 

He watched me with anxiety in his eyes. 

There were a lot of things I could say, a lot of things to ask. “Why doesn’t she come visit me?” I asked, and dropped my gaze back to the first picture of Annabeth in her wedding dress. My heart hurt, ached with longing to see the girl I had once called my daughter. 

“She isn’t ready,” Percy said softly. He didn’t try to take the photos back. Instead, he approached me and caressed my cheek. “Annabeth loves you, but she isn’t ready to see you again.”

It wasn’t until Percy touched me that I noticed the tears running down my cheeks. They dripped off my cheeks and froze before they hit the ground, making little holes in the snow. I hugged Percy and cried into his shoulder like a small child in need of comfort. 

Percy held me, patting my back and making gentle crooning noises. I felt his ring against my skin but the ring and the wedding and the photographs that fell into the snow didn’t stop Percy from guiding me to the fur and stripping down to his skin. “I love you,” Percy told me as he sank onto my cock. “I love you so much, Luke,” he said between kisses. 

I was helpless to Percy, gave in to his wishes because they were my wishes too. I didn’t know if this was being disloyal. The rules of the world didn’t seem to apply here. Sex with Percy was intense this time; I was afraid to lose him to his new bride and his new life. 

“You know,” Percy said, as he rocked against me. “Technically I’m married to you too. You _first._ ” 

As I came inside of him, I caught his lips with mine. I suspected that this place had bound us together somehow. Now I knew I was right. I was suddenly struck with the need to make sure that Percy was taken care of. Trapped here, I couldn’t do anything for him unless he visited and even still. We had no future here. “Do you have a pen?” 

Percy pulled out Riptide and handed it to me. No fear, no worry that I would use it on him. He was still impaled on my cock, still shivering from the aftershocks. Not thinking clearly, his guard as far down as it had ever been around me. 

The pen did not turn into a sword when I uncapped it. I picked up the photo of Percy and used his shoulder as a hard surface to write on. _Take care of him. - L.C._ Then I folded it and slipped it and Riptide into the pocket of his breeches. 

“You don’t want to keep it?” Percy asked me. 

I smoothed my hands up his muscled back. His hair was down to his shoulders now. “This way, you have to come back, so I won’t forget what you look like.” 

Anxiety crossed Percy’s face again. “You forget?” 

I could have brushed it off as a joke or made light of it but Percy did so much for me that I couldn’t lie to him. “Yes. Not you, but everything else outside. It fades.” 

Percy kissed me, hard and desperate and apologetic. He kissed me again, softer but no less of an apology. The words weren’t verbalized, couldn’t be because he’d saved my life and the alternative was that I would have died years ago, on Percy’s sixteenth birthday. 

It was about four visits later when Percy came with more photographs. He handed them to me without a word but I could tell that he was nervous. 

It took me a while to remember who the girl in the photo was. 

The top one showed Annabeth with a very large, protruding belly. She wore a dress, which was terribly impractical by her standards, yet she looked comfortable and beautiful as always. There was more gray in her hair, more wrinkles around her eyes. Percy stood beside her, hands on her stomach and a grin on his face. 

Percy stood beside her, hands on her swollen belly and a grin on his face. 

Annabeth was pregnant. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me. Percy was a healthy man with a good sex drive - as far as I could tell from our annual visits - and Annabeth was his wife. Of course they had sex. Of course she got pregnant. 

The next image was of two newborns bundled in blue blankets. They both had Percy’s dark hair. Annabeth beamed at the camera, looking tired and red in the face but happy. The rest of the photos were of the family, either Percy or Annabeth or both with their twins. 

Looking at the photos made me suddenly realize that I had been here for a long, long time. Long enough for Annabeth and Percy to have a life together, to build a family. And I wasn’t a part of it. I was just a problem they needed to solve, something to think about once a year when Percy made the trip here. For the first time, it occured to me that I would never leave this orchard. I would never see anything of the outside world except in photos that Percy brought me. 

My throat grew tight. “They’re beautiful,” I said and my voice wavered. 

Percy was too proud a father to notice the dip in my mood. He boasted about every little thing his twins did, told me stories about parenting and praised his own mother for her patience in raising a child. “They’re legacies of Poseidon and Athena, so we assume they’ll have powers. Maybe not as strong as ours, but we’re sure that they’ll have some. After all, we’re pretty powerful demigods. And speaking of their grandparents…” Percy told me stories of the Gods meeting the twins and their mortal grandparents meeting them. 

I listened to all of it, part of me knowing that it was a waste of Percy’s breath to let him tell me this stuff. I wouldn’t remember it. By the time he returned, the names and faces of his children would be erased from my mind. But this mattered to Percy and he wanted to share his life with me. It felt like he was oversharing in an attempt to give me something that I would never have myself. 

When he was done telling me about his twins, we moved to the fur beneath the largest tree and made love. I wished more than anything that I could go with him. I would take the punishment from the Gods if only I could be with him and Annabeth and the two adorable babies. They would need help raising two kids. I wanted to be the one to help them. 

It wasn’t meant to be. In the end, Percy had to leave and I had to stay. 

We lay naked on the fur beneath the large rose tree. Percy was taller, broader than he’d been years ago. I lay against his chest and he ran his hand through my hair. “How did you find this place?” I asked because after he reminded me of his twins, I wanted to leave again. They were a year old. A whole year of Percy and Annabeth being parents. 

Percy sighed, as though the story tired him. “Annabeth came to me after you asked her to run away with you. We fought about what to do about it,” it being me but that went unsaid. “And eventually, we found a place. Annabeth found a place. This place.”

Percy pointed to a tree that I hadn’t noticed before. It was really just a sapling, a thin little thing growing among the smallest cluster of trees. There was only one little rose glowing among its branches. “The guardian before you.” 

If the guardians turned into trees when they died...I looked around the grove and counted the trees. Over thirty of them dotted the space. They were all different sizes, though the one we sat under was the biggest and oldest of them. “How did they die?”

“A new guardian came to take their place,” Percy explained. 

“Why weren’t you made the guardian?” I asked and then realized it was obvious. “You didn’t drink the water.” I wrapped my arms around him and my fingers found that spot at the small of his back. 

Percy shivered but didn’t dissuade me from touching it. His heart skipped a beat. “The guardian before would have killed us if one of us didn’t drink the water. When I found this place, I made a deal with them that I would bring someone to take their position.”

“I’ll have to kill people?” I asked quietly. After everything I’d done, I didn’t want to kill anyone. There was already too much blood on my hands.

“Only if they have bad intentions,” Percy stroked his fingers through my long hair. It didn’t stop growing while I was asleep and now hung down past my butt. “Either way, they can’t stay too long or they’ll die.” 

“Die how?” I asked, voice wavering. I was afraid of the answer. I was afraid that _I_ would be the answer. 

Percy was quiet for a long few moments. “The air is toxic. Spending more than eight consecutive hours here will kill a person.”

There was no way for me to tell time but I knew that Percy’s visits, while short, were longer than they should be. He was risking everything to come and see me. The grove was literally killing him every time he visited. And I was selfish enough to want him to keep visiting. 

I tipped my face up to kiss the hollow of Percy’s throat. His necklace had so many beads that they wrapped around the whole length of the chord. I’d never seen anyone with so many beads. I wondered if they would have to give him another necklace. 

Percy told me stories about his children and grandchildren. He didn’t hold it against me that every time he came, it was a surprise again.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember these beings that I’d never met before. Even remembering their mother was difficult for me. There had been a time when I thought I would never forget her - what was her name? Oh yes, Annabeth - but now I could barely hold on to her image. 

Percy was older now. He wasn’t the young, spry thing he’d been at fifteen when he brought me here. His hair was salt and pepper. He wore a trench coat that made him look like he was a character in a noir comic book. Percy smiled when I told him that. “Let me hold your hand, Luke,” Percy said. He held out his hand to me. My necklace was still around his wrist and the golden wedding band was still on his ring finger. 

I took Percy’s hand and kissed the ring. “Is she taking care of you?” 

“We take care of each other,” Percy said with a smile. He looked so tired. This life had not been kind to him and the fact that Percy had managed to make it to an age where his hair turned gray naturally at all was nothing short of a miracle. The odds had been stacked against him since before he was born. “That’s the way it should be. Demigods should always take care of each other.” 

I couldn’t tell if that was a jab at me or not so I kept quiet. While Percy was gone, I didn’t have to think about what I’d done to him and the other demigods. My sleep didn’t include dreams. 

We walked hand in hand to our usual spot beneath the large rose tree. Percy cupped my cheek and rubbed his nose against mine. “Luke, can I ride you?” He asked like he was still a teenager eager for me. 

It warmed me to know that despite getting older, Percy was still my Percy. He was still the boy I fell in love with. “Of course,” I said. I reverently removed his clothing, took my time touching him and placing kisses on his skin. Somehow, I felt like I was running out of time in more ways than one. “I love you, Percy” I whispered as I removed his boots. 

Percy pulled me into his arms, still so strong after so many years of an active life, and kissed me sweetly. “I love you too, Luke. So much.” Just like that, I wasn’t worried anymore. He did love me. I wasn’t just a problem or an inconvenience. 

I watched as Percy got older year after year. As he came back with new scars and new clothes and a new death to make his shoulders hunched. As his run slowed to a jog and then a speedy walk and finally a slow hobble. 

When he came to me this time, I knew that he wouldn’t be leaving. I met him at the entrance to the canyon and my heart swelled to see him but it also twisted with pain at the sight of his wrinkled face and gray hair. It had only been a few days for me. I’d watched Percy grow up in less than a week. 

I cupped his cheek and kissed him, the same as I always did. My love for him hadn’t diminished while I slept. He was still keeping his promise to come and see me and it was the promise of a lifetime. Percy’s physical appearance didn’t matter to me. He was still my love, my savior. 

“Look at you,” Percy said in a voice cracked with age. “Still so handsome.” He smiled at me, fond and bittersweet. 

“And you’re still beautiful,” I told him truthfully. 

If he slung an arm around my waist and gave me more of his weight than usual, we didn’t bring it up. If it took minutes longer to get across the stream then it was just more time together. Percy sat down heavily beneath the tree and breathed harshly. He shot me an apologetic look as though he could have done anything to stop time from aging him. 

I held him in my arms. He was so frail. “How old are you now?” 

Percy leaned against me and closed his eyes. “Oh,” he said and thought about it for a moment. “Today is my ninety-fifth birthday.” 

“That’s a good number,” I said carefully. I’d never heard of a demigod getting to be that old. He never mentioned anyone else; I assumed they were long dead by now. It hurt to think that...that the girls may have passed on but I was sure that they had reached Elysium. Maybe they would even be reborn. 

Percy hummed agreement. “Will you forgive me for dying on you?” 

I wanted to say no. I wanted to protest that it was too soon. I was still too in love with him to let him die. Sleeping forever still scared me. But I couldn’t stop Percy’s death. Instinctually I knew that even if he tried to drink from the stream, it would only kill him faster. “Yes,” I said sadly. “Do you forgive me for everything I did?”

With great effort, Percy turned around. His expression was horrified. “Oh, Luke. Of course I forgive you. I did so long ago. I’m sorry I never told you.” 

I kissed him again. “Thank you.” 

Percy turned and settled with his back against my chest once more. “I do love you, Luke. Even after so long.” 

“I love you too, Percy,” I whispered back in the desperate tone of a young lover. Parting with him was not sweet sorrow, it was simply sorrow. If Percy didn’t exist any longer, I didn’t want to either. Sleep was the closest I could get until there was another guardian. 

The snow surprised me. It had never snowed within the walls before. I held Percy, whispered sweet everythings into his ear, barely even aware of what I was saying but I knew that it was declaring my love for him. Over and over. It was important to me that Percy understood. 

Percy stroked the back of my hand with his thumb. He hummed and murmured back to me, loving words that I would remember for the rest of my life. Then he untied my Camp Half-Blood bracelet from around his wrist. There was a thin ring of paler skin, where it hadn’t gotten any sun. Percy tied the beads around my wrist. He was warmth tucked against my chest, face turned to my neck. I could feel his every exhale. 

And I could feel when those exhales stopped. 

I was buried in the snow, curled around something hard and thin. I opened my eyes but saw nothing. I pushed my way up through the snow like an early spring flower. 

It seemed to me that the canopy of my rose tree was larger than I remembered. Light from the roses poured down into the nest I’d made and fell upon a skeleton. The flesh and clothes had been eaten away by time and small creatures that enjoyed those things. All that was left was smooth bone that almost seemed to shine with blue shadows. And a Camp Half-Blood necklace with dozens and dozens of beads. Percy. My love, my savior. 

My heart ached and I knew what happened. The moment he died was the moment I fell back into sleep. 

His skull came away easily. I cradled it and ran my fingers over the smooth bone. “I miss you,” I whispered to it, though I knew there was no trace of Percy left. Around my wrist were the beads he had saved for me, so worn by time that I couldn’t make out the pictures anymore. 

My grief was put on hold by an urgent feeling within me. 

Someone was coming. 

I wasn’t yet sure if they meant harm or not. Were they here to pillage this sacred place like Kronos had wanted? Were they here to find sanctuary for a criminal, like Percy had been? 

I kissed the top of Percy’s skull and gently set it down atop the snow. Then I stood up and went to meet the intruder.

He looked about fifteen, young and not yet weighed down by life. His black hair was feathery, down to his shoulders, and there was a streak of grey near his temple. His eyes were the color of sea glass. He looked as surprised to see me as I was to see him. “Whoa!” He said. “I didn’t think I’d run into anyone out here. You're naked. Aren’t you cold?”

“Who are you?” I asked, my heart aching with longing. He looked just like Percy, exactly like Percy. But how could that be? Percy Jackson had died in my arms. His skull was resting on the fur beneath the big rose tree.

“Oh,” he said, and looked embarrassed. “I’m Percy.” The boy held out his hand. 

I could count the number of times that I’d shook someone’s hand in my lifetime but if Percy thought my handshake was strange, he didn’t say anything about it. I couldn’t stop staring at him. “How did you get that?” I gestured to the gray streak in his hair.

Percy looked even more embarrassed. He reached up and touched it. “Genetics,” he said miserably. “At this rate, I’ll be gray by the time I’m twenty-five.” 

I doubted that. “How did you get here?”

“I walked,” Percy said with a smile. “My parents are scientists. They’re studying the ice caps, hoping to stop global warming. And of course I just had to be dragged along.” An eye roll. 

As I stared at him and digested his words, I began to suspect what I was seeing. Percy Jackson had chosen reincarnation. He was trying for the Isles of the Blest. Yet somehow, impossibly, he had found his way back to me. I put my arm around his shoulders. “I’m Luke,” I said. “It’s a pleasure to have you here. Let me show you around.” 

“Sweet.” Percy beamed up at me, so trusting and sweet like he’d been when he was Percy Jackson, twelve and new to Camp Half-Blood. “Are you magic?” 

“Something like that.” I couldn’t keep him here forever, I knew that. But this time, I would be good to him. There would be no betrayal, there would be no hurt between us. Maybe he would come back a third time and I would love Percy for all of his lives.


End file.
